Sunday, 18 January 2009

St James' Park is pretty cold in January! But I had a good mix of grey skies, frost, rain and stark bold shadows from the winter sunlight on my visit from 15-17 Jan.

Lots of footage for speeding up - dawn looking east beyond Horse Guard parade to The Eye.Dusk looking west beyond Buckingham palace.People and vehicles, parades and wanderers. Empty spaces and full.Lots of photos, especially series for montage and moving sequence composition.And some interesting conversations along the way - like the lady who comes up from Kent twice a week to crush walnuts for a particular squirrel who lives near the western tea hut; he has a damaged mouth, and she thinks he gets hungry in between. There's another squirrel she feeds too; his mouth is OK so he's given whole hazel nuts to run away with.

The shot from the eye has had to be dropped. I contacted them for permission to film, completed the online request form, and got a very speedy reply. Permission granted, but I'd have to hire a whole pod (for 3-25 crew) at £440 + vat. Unless there's a group of people desperate to appear in the mediascape who all want to contribute to the fare, I think that one's for another day!!!

I'll be working on the test photos and footage during the last week of Jan, so will post a few examples and experiments here then.

And hopefully the licensing for filming in the park proper will be sorted ready for the start of Feb(at the moment it's personal use only - hence filming from the roads and public spaces around last visit).

1 comment:

Just thinking about a blog as a template for the website as it would allow people to comment easily. And Blogger successfully uploaded a video file for me a couple of weeks ago(it has never worked properly before...)Something to try out, especially as I didn't get the funding that would have developed a web-mscape re-generation format.

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‘e-merge’ _ a film-making mediascape

Enjoy a movie in the park, on your own, or with a friend or family. Pick up an ipaq and headphones from mediascape base at the ICA, and explore the park. Choose music especially commissioned for the piece, and wander around – you choose where to walk, how far, how fast – the music may encourage you to twist and turn as you meander the paths around the lakeside. When you’re ready, find a comfy place to watch your film – with images taken from the places you’ve walked, you may find a few surprises too! Make one long film, or several short films, and when you’ve finished we’ll upload a selection of films to the e-merge website http://www.e-merge-walks.com/ so you can watch again, show your friends, and compare films!

Jackie Calderwood is a freelance media artist working with moving image, interactive and pervasive media. Jackie also creates short films for community arts projects in SW England and is a moderator for the young people’s Arts Award. e-merge is part of Jackie’s ongoing research exploring interaction between artist, audience and artefact.

Commissioned for Birds Eye View 2009, located in St James’ Park, London [Start point: ICA]. Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Equipment supported by the Pervasive Media Studio. Illustrated map provided by the Royal Parks.